Remember our goal is to find the perfect tequila for the perfect margarita. Three of the tequilas in the bottom half of the ratings are very highly recommended: Muchote, KAH and Casa Noble are all tasty. My working theory is they just don’t play well with others.

The surprise of the First Big Taste Test was the dark horse winner, Don Celso Reposado. Not only did Don Celso have the best rating over all, it also got 4 clear first place votes from the 11 judges. No other tequila got more than 1 first place vote.

Another clear winner was Lunazul (I love visual puns the best). Lunazul is relatively inexpensive, so this tequila is the obvious early favorite to take the crown for “Recommended for Big Parties!” It did get 1 first place vote.

3 Amigos (1 first place vote) and El Tesoro were small surprises; neither had impressed in the preliminary tastings, but they did rise to the top when they needed to!

Two tequilas surprised that they were not rated higher.

Marquez de Valencia Reposado is very highly recommended, and we had to drive many miles just to buy it. I expected more!

Sol de Mexico was distinguished in the early tastings … I wholly expected that this would be my favorite in the taste test. ‘twas not to be, but I’m keeping it in the competition to see if our initial tastings were right or wrong.

Our taste test, our rules.

After some discussions, we’ve decided to take those 6 tequilas (marked with **) on to the next round as we search for the perfect ingredients, the perfect recipe … the perfect margarita.